


Until the End of Time

by tarnera



Category: Torchwood
Genre: I own nothing save my crazy theories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-21
Updated: 2012-11-21
Packaged: 2017-11-19 04:24:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/569057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarnera/pseuds/tarnera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack says goodbye.</p><p>Spoilers for Children of Earth</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until the End of Time

**Author's Note:**

> I made myself cry when I wrote this, so be warned.

He stood by the simple grave, his coat flapping in the night wind. His hair was lifted by a sudden sharp gust and he hunched his shoulders a little, though he wasn't actually bothered much by the cold. He looked up at the sky. Dark and covered over by clouds, not a single star shining through. Shifting his feet a bit he wondered how long he had been standing here. A long time, probably; a long time with nothing to say. Well, what could he say, really? How does one apologize to a grave? There was nothing to say.

Yet he wanted to say something, make some sort of token gesture; which is why he was still just standing here. He glanced up at the cloud-swept sky again, licked his lips nervously, and cleared his throat.

"You are a stubborn bastard, you know that?" he asked the grave, the bitter grief pouring out in his voice. "The times I wanted to just smack you because you would not back down. And what's worse, you were right. Every single time you got all stubborn on me, you were right." He stopped for a second, breathing quietly, waiting for…what? His lover was never going to speak to him again.

His breath came out in a sigh. "I never told you. I guess because if I'd said it—actually said it, out loud—that would make it real. That I love you. Loved you. If I said it out loud, you'd…leave me, or be taken from me. Because what I love is cursed. Because of me, the way I am, everything I love turns to dust in the end. Everyone around me dies. Just like you. I didn't even have to say it; even unspoken, my love for you cursed you, killed you in the end." He reached out slowly, touched the plain white tomb stone. "And I'm sorry for that.

"I'm so sorry I never told you how beautiful you are. I'm sorry I never told you a lot of things. I kept so much of myself from you, and I'm sorry for that, too.

"I wish…I wish that you were still alive. I would wish that we had never met, but I'm too selfish for that. All I can do is honor your last request. This I swear on your grave, I will never forget you. If I live for ten thousand years, a hundred thousand. If I live to the end of the universe, if I live till the end of time, I will never forget you. I will never forget my beautiful Ianto."

He took his hand away from the stone slowly and stuffed it into his pocket. There was nothing left to say, nothing left to do. It was just a grave now, everything that was Ianto had gone. For what felt like the thousandth time, he looked up at the sky. Still covered by clouds, but it was starting to clear just a bit. A few stars peeped around the clouds. Jack sighed again. Everything that tied him to Earth was gone. He had made his peace with the Doctor. Ianto was gone, Gwen was home, Torchwood was demolished. Perhaps it was time to go traveling again, just start fresh on some distant world where no one at all knew who he was.

Jack glanced at the stone one last time, read the words for the thousandth time, for the last time. And then he walked away.

  
_Ianto Jones_   
_1983-2009_   
_Loved by many_   
_He was the bravest of us all_   



End file.
